PORTLAND, Oregon (Ticker) -- Scottie Pippen and the balance of
the Portland Trail Blazers were too much for the Dallas
Mavericks.

Pippen scored 17 points and led a decisive third-quarter surge
as the Trail Blazers cruised to a 107-94 victory over the
Mavericks, their eighth straight in the series.

Damon Stoudamire and Detlef Schrempf also scored 17 points each
for the Blazers, who had six players in double figures and shot
53 percent (42-of-79) from the field. They toyed with Dallas
for more than a half before pulling away for their eighth win in
nine games.

"In the first half, everybody was going through the motions,
both teams," Stoudamire said. "In the second half, we picked up
our defensive intensity."

"I thought we had good concentration," Portland coach Mike
Dunleavy said. "Our defense was strong and we keptt some of
their main guys away from the basket and we executed on offense.
In the second half we were more focused."

Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 points and Cedric Ceballos added 18 for
the Mavericks, who have lost 12 of 16 overall and have not
beaten Portland since April 8, 1997.

"Portland is the deepest team I've seen thus far this season,"
Mavericks coach Don Nelson said.

"They do a real good job doing what they are supposed to do,"
Ceballos said. "It's great to have all those All-Stars on the
team and not have one of them selfish, none of them looking for
themselves. ... That's a great squad out there. If we could do
that, it would be great."

A jumper by Michael Finley pulled Dallas within 52-51 with nine
minutes left in the third quarter before Portland used a 9-2 run
to take control. Pippen had a pair of 3-pointers around a dunk
by Rasheed Wallace, and Wallace's free throw made it 61-53 with
6:36 to go.

Stoudamire had 10 points in the final 4:19 of the period as the
Blazers extended the advantage to 78-67 entering the final
quarter.

"We knew we were going to get a lot of open looks with the way
Dallas plays defense," Stoudamire said. "They do a lot of
switching, things like that. It was like shooting practice for
a lot of guys."

"I wasn't very happy with the third quarter," Nelson said.
"Portland's intensity went up. We hung around in the first half
but then they took it away from us in the third quarter."

The Mavericks rallied within 78-71 on a jumper by Ceballos with
10:50 to go before the Blazers again took charge. Schrempf made
consecutive baskets to trigger a 10-2 surge that was capped at
88-73 by Stacey Augmon's layup with 8:27 remaining.

Schrempf scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a
layup that gave Portland its largest lead at 95-77 with 6:14 tto
play.

"I think we did a much better job helping each other out and
making good passes (in the second half)," Schrempf said.

Brian Grant scored 14 points, Wallace added 13 and Steve Smith
10 for the Blazers, who held a 47-33 rebounding edge despite
playing without 7-3 center Arvydas Sabonis, who missed his third
straight game with a viral infection.

Damon Jones scored all 15 of his points on 3-pointers and Finley
added 12 for the Mavericks, who shot 48 percent (37-of-77).

Stoudamire's 20-footer with 2:26 left in the second quarter gave
the Blazers the lead for good at 42-40. Nowitzki scored 13
points in the first half, which ended with Portland holding a
46-45 lead.